Ditches, Gulches, Rip Rap and Slickens

Hello!
This week I finally have some end results that I can share – the Padua Hills Theatre Collection is now uploaded to the CCDL’s City of Claremont History Collection page! You can search for ‘Mexican Players’ or ‘Padua Hills’ and the playbills and fliers will come up along with a few postcards and photographs. Please visit and explore. It was difficult choosing which pieces to digitize, but I think I have a good selection that represents the large span of time, and you can see the lettering and design element changes corresponding to larger cultural design shifts over the decades.

After uploading the Padua Hills material, I returned to the 24 folders of Finkle papers, and began sorting material according to state (with moving help from the Special Collections staff – thanks, Ayat, Tanya, and Lisa!). Now I have the CCEPS room tables covered with piles of maps and blueprints, with California’s pile being the highest by far. I’ll look forward to continuing with this next week, when I will have to come up with a more comprehensive and detailed plan to refine the collection sorting even further. It will be very satisfying and wonderful to get these into a workable order!

I have been taking more photos as I sort through the piles this time – many of the blueprints are striking as works of industrial engineering art, although (to me) incomprehensible as work plans. And some of the maps are just stunning. I’m including my favorites below, as well as my favorite placename – Get There Ditch, in Boulder County, Colorado.

GetThereDitch.jpg

The “Zone of Hydraulicked Slickens” is a close second. You’ve got to keep the Rip Rap under control, after all. This paper has some water damage but still somewhat readable.

Zone of Hydraulicked Slickens.jpgBeautiful colors for Gore Canyon, Colorado:

GoreCanon.jpgSnoqualmie River and Falls area in Washington:

Snoqualmie.jpgThe Main Cables for the Power House at Bull Run River, Oregon:

BullRun-MainCables.jpg